The Internet has created a wealth of knowledge and information on a scale previously unimaginable. From commercial web pages to individual homepages, government resources to educational institutions, web surfers are exposed to a vast array of web sites that vary in content, form, speed, and design. The gateways to these web sites and their web pages are Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), more commonly known as web addresses, which identify web page locations to users worldwide.
Web users access a web site by entering the web site's URL into a web browser, such as NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR and MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER. Web browsers allow users to enter URLs via a number of traditional methods. First, the user can enter a URL directly into an address blank in a location toolbar. Second, the user can select a URL from a list of web site URLs using pull-down menus or bookmark lists. Finally, users can select a URL link within the main browser window.
Unfortunately, none of these methods allow a user to determine a web site's content or features prior to accessing the web site. Entering a URL into a browser address blank immediately sends the user to the web site. Selecting a URL from a pull-down menu or a bookmark list requires the user to visit the web site on a prior occasion and add the URL to the pull-down menu or bookmark list. Selecting a URL link in the main browser window also sends the user immediately to the web site. None of these web page access methods provide any significant preview information about the web site content or features prior to user access of the web site. At most, these methods indicate web site content prior to user web page access only by presenting a descriptive name for a URL and a few lines of text underneath a URL link; none of these methods provide significant or detailed information about the web site features prior to user access of the web site.
For users seeking web sites with certain content or features, or attempting to avoid web sites with certain content or features, this paucity of information prior to accessing a web site is a constant source of frustration and inefficiency. Users stumble blindly from web site to web site, sifting through vast quantities of useless, incorrect, or outdated information.
Users often attempt to circumvent these difficulties by using search engines to generate a narrow list of web addresses according to specific criteria. Common Internet search engines such as ALTAVISTA, EXCITE, LYCOS, HOTBOT, and YAHOO prompt the user to enter descriptive words and phrases which are used to search and compile a list of web sites. The search engines return a list of web addresses that purportedly fulfill the user's criteria and contain information they desire to view.
Nonetheless, search engines fail to overcome many of the problems stated above due to the lack of web site preview information that describes web site content and features prior to user access of a web site. Each list entry returned by a search engine contains a web site URL and, optionally, a few lines of text copied from the web site's first page. Thus, the user immediately faces a problem in that they cannot tell if the URL list returned by the search engine is truly responsive to the user's criteria.
This problem of determining if the URL list returned by a search engine is responsive to the user's criteria becomes a serious issue due to the process employed by search engines. Search engines traditionally operate by allowing web site owners to register words and phrases that will generate “hits” on their web pages. There is often no correlation between the words registered and actual web page content, however, because web site owners register the most commonly searched words in order to maximize the number of hits on their web pages. As a result, the URL list returned by search engines often bears little or no correlation to the search terms input by the user. Taking into account that search engines only return a list of web site URLs, without any additional information about the web site content or features, the user is deceived into exploring numerous web pages and web sites that are irrelevant to their search. Thus, even by using a search engine, the user wastes time and effort, and becomes frustrated, as they select web site URLs which are irrelevant, outdated, and contain undesired information.
Even if a search engine generates an accurate list of relevant web site URLs, such lists are often extensive and have a broad spectrum of utility and coverage. Users do not have the time or resources to visit every web site to determine which web site best fits their needs. Yet without any additional information about the web sites, the user is forced to investigate each and every one, never able to determine the most relevant web site(s) that suits their needs. Thus, the lack of preview information about web site content and features once again forces the user to waste time and effort viewing numerous web sites instead of being able to immediately identify the web site that best suits their needs.
Finally, assuming the user can use a search engine or some other method to generate a list of web site URLs with equally relevant content, the user is still unable to determine significant web site features essential to saving time and alleviating frustration. Critical features such as the web site connection speed and last time updated are unavailable to the user prior to accessing the web site, causing the user to endure slow data connections and outdated information. Web site security features may also have a significant bearing on which web sites the user is permitted to access. None of these features are evident prior to user access of the web site, and so the user learns these important features at the expense of time, efficiency, and frustration.